Just curious what you guys think.  I saw a Tiburon on the street the other day, and I had to look twice because I thought it was some Italian import.  Turns out, it was a Hyundai!  It's kind of weak under the hood, at 2.7L V6, 172 hp, and 181 torque, but for a day-to-day commuter car and occasional midnight speeder it should suffice.  Plus the Hyundai warranty is pretty impressive with 5 year bumper to bumper.  At 20-21K fully loaded, seems like a sensible option for young guys just getting out of school.        

the numbers might not look that impressive but it is a fairly light car.  for the longest time my motto was "friends dont let friends drive Korean" but they're decent cars nowadays.

They look great and they have a great warranty!

FWIW I had a 1999 elantra I ended up trading in. when it snowed I was screwed, when it rained  turns had to be made very carefully or I would "fishtail" and when I had a diagnostics test ran on the engine there were major issues. I have no experince with a Tiburon or newer model Hyundai's and never will again. Not here to bash just give my experience in my situation. YMMV I hope if you decide to purchase your luck is better than mine. ......P.S. don't drink and dirve

I had a 1993 Hyundai Excel. It was the worst car I have ever driven regularly, hands down. Supposedly, Hyundai has come a long way since then.

Well I will say that the Tiburon Looks WAY better after the redesign... Supposedly The Quality has gone way up and are at near Jap levels now

My GF's family has a Hyundai Accent.  It's fricking tiny...but not bad for a commuter car.

My dad was looking at a Hyundai Excel when we were looking for a vehicle one time...the car had a bad knock...we didn't get it.

Hyundai has apparently gotten better since the days of the Excel.  

Quoted: The early hyundais were junk, particularly the transmissions, but they supposedly cleaned up their act after they temporarily left the US market. I think they have a pretty extensive 100k warranty. I see a lot of their little suvs, I think they are "Santa Fe"s

The Santa Fe is about Jeep Liberty-sized.  They just came out with a Tucson, that's about Honda CRV or Toyota RAV-4 sized.  

My wife bought a 99 Elantra new. Drove it for 100k without any problems other then regular maintenance. Had to replace a squeaky spedometer cable when it was new under warranty but that is it. We liked it so much we bought a new 05 Elantra last year. She has put almost 20k on it already commuting. So far no problems whatsoever. The warranty is awsome. My dad has a Sante Fe he bought on my recomendation and its been trouble free for him too. Some have had bad experiences in the past with older model Hyundais but there quality is good to go now in my opinion.

Quoted: FWIW I had a 1999 elantra I ended up trading in. when it snowed I was screwed, when it rained  turns had to be made very carefully or I would "fishtail" and when I had a diagnostics test ran on the engine there were major issues. I have no experince with a Tiburon or newer model Hyundai's and never will again. Not here to bash just give my experience in my situation. YMMV I hope if you decide to purchase your luck is better than mine. ......P.S. don't drink and dirve

99 was a bad year.  That was the last year for the failed excel effort.  In the second half of 99 they through away the excel for the accent.  I bought mine in August.  Drove it for over 210000 miles without any failures.  Well..... they replaced my alternator 3 times, but it was free.  Great customer service.  They didn't even question how I was burning them up.  If they looked in the trunk to see 5 amplifiers and 3 12" volcano subs they would have flipped but I guess the trunk isn't a normal maintanence stop.  

At the time I was driving 102 miles each way to and from work.  The miles racked up quick.  After 4 years I traded it in on a 2003 Accent and started all over again.  This time I had changed jobs and only had to put 30 miles per day on it so the miles didn't rack up so fast.  Traded it in on a 2005 Dodge Magnum last year with 65000 on it but still no complaints from me.  The only ones I did hear were all about the automatic trans.  I never had one, I always stuck to the 5 speed.  

Are you sure that the Tib only has a 5 year......... never mind, you said bump to bump.  Then another 5 on the power train.  Its tough to beat.
Just My 2 Cents

Hyundais from '00 and up are very good cars for the money. I see a good number of them at the shop and the '00 and up models are holding up just fine, even at high mileage. Very little work outside of routine stuff. I can't say that for the earlier junk they peddled.

Friends brother has one, he thinks its soo powerful, after looking at it and riding in it not impressed for what he paid

Quoted: Quoted: FWIW I had a 1999 elantra I ended up trading in. when it snowed I was screwed, when it rained  turns had to be made very carefully or I would "fishtail" and when I had a diagnostics test ran on the engine there were major issues. I have no experince with a Tiburon or newer model Hyundai's and never will again. Not here to bash just give my experience in my situation. YMMV I hope if you decide to purchase your luck is better than mine. ......P.S. don't drink and dirve 99 was a bad year.  That was the last year for the failed excel effort.  In the second half of 99 they through away the excel for the accent.  I bought mine in August.  Drove it for over 210000 miles without any failures.  Well..... they replaced my alternator 3 times, but it was free.  Great customer service.  They didn't even question how I was burning them up.  If they looked in the trunk to see 5 amplifiers and 3 12" volcano subs they would have flipped but I guess the trunk isn't a normal maintanence stop.   At the time I was driving 102 miles each way to and from work.  The miles racked up quick.  After 4 years I traded it in on a 2003 Accent and started all over again.  This time I had changed jobs and only had to put 30 miles per day on it so the miles didn't rack up so fast.  Traded it in on a 2005 Dodge Magnum last year with 65000 on it but still no complaints from me.  The only ones I did hear were all about the automatic trans.  I never had one, I always stuck to the 5 speed.   Are you sure that the Tib only has a 5 year......... never mind, you said bump to bump.  Then another 5 on the power train.  Its tough to beat. Just My 2 Cents

The Excel was cancelled in '94.  The Accent came out in '95.  I saw a '97 Elantra wagon with over 200K on Ebay once that looked fine other than dirty seats and a softball sized dent in the hatch.

I've had three.  Currently drive a 2001 Elantra.  Current mileage is just over 100k. I've had the following problems:

Fuel pump failed @ 75k, cost $300 to fix
Catalytic converter failed @ 60k, replaced under warranty
A headlight bulb burns out every 30k miles or so
Clock shorted out @ 100k (took out interior lights and radio), $unknown - got to get it fixed.

I'm on the original brake pads and original clutch.  I'm on my 3rd set of tires.  I get 30-35 mpg on the freeway and around 25 around town.  Paid a whopping $14k for it brand new five years ago, so I guess it's cost me $3k a year if I threw it away today.

I figure the brakes and clutch won't last more than 50k miles before needing replacement and the current set of tires will be gone by then too.  At that point, I'll have a car with 150k miles, needing $1000 worth of parts and maintenance, which would probably double the value of the car.

I'd have no problems buying another one.  The new Sonata looks pretty good in the car mag write ups and reviews.

I do have the car serviced every 15k miles per manufacturer specs and change the oil every 3k miles.  I know I've spent far more in regular maintenance than repairs.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: FWIW I had a 1999 elantra I ended up trading in. when it snowed I was screwed, when it rained  turns had to be made very carefully or I would "fishtail" and when I had a diagnostics test ran on the engine there were major issues. I have no experince with a Tiburon or newer model Hyundai's and never will again. Not here to bash just give my experience in my situation. YMMV I hope if you decide to purchase your luck is better than mine. ......P.S. don't drink and dirve 99 was a bad year.  That was the last year for the failed excel effort.  In the second half of 99 they through away the excel for the accent.  I bought mine in August.  Drove it for over 210000 miles without any failures.  Well..... they replaced my alternator 3 times, but it was free.  Great customer service.  They didn't even question how I was burning them up.  If they looked in the trunk to see 5 amplifiers and 3 12" volcano subs they would have flipped but I guess the trunk isn't a normal maintanence stop.   At the time I was driving 102 miles each way to and from work.  The miles racked up quick.  After 4 years I traded it in on a 2003 Accent and started all over again.  This time I had changed jobs and only had to put 30 miles per day on it so the miles didn't rack up so fast.  Traded it in on a 2005 Dodge Magnum last year with 65000 on it but still no complaints from me.  The only ones I did hear were all about the automatic trans.  I never had one, I always stuck to the 5 speed.   Are you sure that the Tib only has a 5 year......... never mind, you said bump to bump.  Then another 5 on the power train.  Its tough to beat. Just My 2 Cents The Excel was cancelled in '94.  The Accent came out in '95.  I saw a '97 Elantra wagon with over 200K on Ebay once that looked fine other than dirty seats and a softball sized dent in the hatch.

My wife corrected me first. :) but you are correct.  My calender is broken or at least my perception of it.  Man its tough getting old.

My loss of memory aside, the cars still held up very well for me.